Love me some cookies y'all

Just a space for the brainrot ig... Feel free to ask me anything about my AUs or other stuff.

[cookierunslut]

Darkest Days Masterpost

Concepts/Headcanons

OG post

COD related posts:

-Post 1

-Post 2

-Post 3

Dark Cacao Kingdom posts:

-Post 1

-Post 2

Lore

The Dark Dream

"Patient Zero"

Lore related asks:

-Post 1

-

Licorice Tribe

- Survivors

- Survivors 2

Licorice Sea/Living Abyss

Storyline

Precursor events:

Kingdom Tour: Dark Cacao

The Licorice Sea Expedition

OCs 1

OCs 2

Seance Gone Wrong

Main Events:

The Dreaming Plague

Waking Nightmares

Darkest Days

Art

Dark Dream doodle

[cookierunslut]

Woo I'm on a vacation rn. If anyone wants to bother me about any of my AUs, I'd be super happy. Especially Darkest Days since that's the one my ADHD is all over rn, but any of them work!

I'm still working stuff out for the other kingdoms, relationships, and the sort of in between stuff. I have many thoughts on Dark Cacao and Dark Choco in this AU. Licorice and his tribe. The other Ancients dealing with this crisis.

Things I haven't figured out though is if I want to have White Lily be alive or not. Since I kinda recall she helped Cacao before with a plague that came with the oozelings, I can see her being involved, but idk if I should so the "she was revived" in this AU since she would be dead at this point otherwise.

[cookierunslut]

OMG the timeline thing is super frustrating. They really need to establish one bc it is so...

Like, I am very confused about the timeline for the Licorice Sea changing and now knowing the tribe attempted to summon a dragon is just more confusing on when. This is definitely one of those things where the lore gets blurred for me too though.

I vaguely remember seeing something about a Great Sage attempting to purify the sea and the few bits of lore I have seen from OB and Kingdom make the whole situation sound like it's been a problem for at least as long as the Ancients have been around if not longer. But then again, if the Licorice Sea changed because of the Licorice Tribe, that sounds a bit more recent timeline wise and like. You get what I mean? I think a legit timeline for what happened in the lore would do wonders for their games. I would love to use the Great Sage in the actual AU but unfortunately, I have no actual info on that either.

Because if the Tribe summoned the dragon in more recent times, you'd think that'd be brought up more. And raise a LOT more alarm when the oozelings appear since the two seem vaguely related. It would make more sense timeline wise if the survivors rebuilt only to get wiped out again, so is that the issue? (Since you have now given me access to this info, I WILL be making minor lore adjustments for the AU, tho this is pretty close to what I was considering for it anyway.) I'm just speculating but it is still so fun to consider.

I do wonder why they tried to summon a dragon though. I hope we get some lore on that. Because there's so many options for it. Did they already have a connection with a dragon and were trying to bring that back? (The actual plant licorice root comes from is a flowering one so a flower dragon from the Licorice Sea is not off the table BUT there is nothing to support or disprove this and it's entirely just a fun musing of mine.)

Attempting to use the dragon for something is not off the table either of course, whether as a weapon or as protection for themselves. And since I mentioned they could possibly be a reference to Lovecraft's Deep Ones, there's also the chance that they weren't so much summoning as resurrecting the dragon. I haven't read Lovecraft's stories in a while but iirc, the Deep Ones aren't a specific species but a group of various demi humans and other creatures anticipating the resurrection of Cthulhu. So that's a possibility if the tribe is an actual reference and not just a coincidental resemblance. It could also possibly explain how the Living Abyss/oozelings came to be if they botched a dragon's resurrection.

And if you're interested, I can tell you a bit about the context for Licorice interacting with Licorice Cream. If he ever meets and interacts with someone from his tribe in canon, it would definitely depend on the individual. Seeing as he seems to have mixed feelings towards it, I can only assume he wasn't treated horribly. Poverty really is enough to royally mess someone up on its own, it would make more sense to me if he had good and bad memories with some of the people but not necessarily living there.

But that aside for now. Yes. I really wish we had more info. They've only gotten throwaway lines in dialogue or a couple of items. I am super interested in the whole thing. I guess the short version is, "give me a legit timeline so I can better gauge when shit was happening so I can use it for lore and character analysis".

Btw, I hope I'm not distracting or bothering you with this. I tend to get excited over discussions like this where I get to share my thoughts and speculations.

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

Cookierun lore has more holes than Swiss Cheese. Just knowing he age of a character in general is hard. Like, in Pilgrim's Path, it's implied that Licorice might have been there during the Dark Flour War, but we don't really even know how old he was when his tribe was taken out, either. Both events imply he's hundreds of years old, but he's described as being descended from the tribe. If everyone are just hundreds of years old, then how is the Ancients having immortality special? My head hurts thinking about the intricacies of all of that. The Licorice Tribe is really only talked to BY Licorice himself, so I tend to wonder if they just try to expunge them from history. If so, why? I mean it makes sense for Licorice wanting to distance himself from the past, but were they truly evil, or just misunderstood? I am happy to help with...whatever I have just done, lmao! I'm just a repository for a ton of lore. I've been told I'd be good at keeping a lore blog, but I'm really only invested in certain types of lore so I feel like I'd be a shitty lorekeeper. I'd be interested! I also agree that it depends on who it was and their relationship to him. No one every has purely good or purely bad memories of their home/growing up in it. So, I think it's legit he have mixed feelings on it, for sure. You're not bothering me at all! The heat here has been awful and draining so I just hadn't gotten back around to answering you! If you want, I could give you my discord if you'd like to talk there!

@cookierunslut

[cookierunslut]

Honestly, at this point, we probably should chat on discord so I stop cluttering your blog with my yapping. I always forget it's an option.

[cookierunslut]

OMG the timeline thing is super frustrating. They really need to establish one bc it is so...

Like, I am very confused about the timeline for the Licorice Sea changing and now knowing the tribe attempted to summon a dragon is just more confusing on when. This is definitely one of those things where the lore gets blurred for me too though.

I vaguely remember seeing something about a Great Sage attempting to purify the sea and the few bits of lore I have seen from OB and Kingdom make the whole situation sound like it's been a problem for at least as long as the Ancients have been around if not longer. But then again, if the Licorice Sea changed because of the Licorice Tribe, that sounds a bit more recent timeline wise and like. You get what I mean? I think a legit timeline for what happened in the lore would do wonders for their games. I would love to use the Great Sage in the actual AU but unfortunately, I have no actual info on that either.

Because if the Tribe summoned the dragon in more recent times, you'd think that'd be brought up more. And raise a LOT more alarm when the oozelings appear since the two seem vaguely related. It would make more sense timeline wise if the survivors rebuilt only to get wiped out again, so is that the issue? (Since you have now given me access to this info, I WILL be making minor lore adjustments for the AU, tho this is pretty close to what I was considering for it anyway.) I'm just speculating but it is still so fun to consider.

I do wonder why they tried to summon a dragon though. I hope we get some lore on that. Because there's so many options for it. Did they already have a connection with a dragon and were trying to bring that back? (The actual plant licorice root comes from is a flowering one so a flower dragon from the Licorice Sea is not off the table BUT there is nothing to support or disprove this and it's entirely just a fun musing of mine.)

Attempting to use the dragon for something is not off the table either of course, whether as a weapon or as protection for themselves. And since I mentioned they could possibly be a reference to Lovecraft's Deep Ones, there's also the chance that they weren't so much summoning as resurrecting the dragon. I haven't read Lovecraft's stories in a while but iirc, the Deep Ones aren't a specific species but a group of various demi humans and other creatures anticipating the resurrection of Cthulhu. So that's a possibility if the tribe is an actual reference and not just a coincidental resemblance. It could also possibly explain how the Living Abyss/oozelings came to be if they botched a dragon's resurrection.

And if you're interested, I can tell you a bit about the context for Licorice interacting with Licorice Cream. If he ever meets and interacts with someone from his tribe in canon, it would definitely depend on the individual. Seeing as he seems to have mixed feelings towards it, I can only assume he wasn't treated horribly. Poverty really is enough to royally mess someone up on its own, it would make more sense to me if he had good and bad memories with some of the people but not necessarily living there.

But that aside for now. Yes. I really wish we had more info. They've only gotten throwaway lines in dialogue or a couple of items. I am super interested in the whole thing. I guess the short version is, "give me a legit timeline so I can better gauge when shit was happening so I can use it for lore and character analysis".

Btw, I hope I'm not distracting or bothering you with this. I tend to get excited over discussions like this where I get to share my thoughts and speculations.

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

Cookierun lore has more holes than Swiss Cheese. Just knowing he age of a character in general is hard. Like, in Pilgrim's Path, it's implied that Licorice might have been there during the Dark Flour War, but we don't really even know how old he was when his tribe was taken out, either. Both events imply he's hundreds of years old, but he's described as being descended from the tribe. If everyone are just hundreds of years old, then how is the Ancients having immortality special? My head hurts thinking about the intricacies of all of that. The Licorice Tribe is really only talked to BY Licorice himself, so I tend to wonder if they just try to expunge them from history. If so, why? I mean it makes sense for Licorice wanting to distance himself from the past, but were they truly evil, or just misunderstood? I am happy to help with...whatever I have just done, lmao! I'm just a repository for a ton of lore. I've been told I'd be good at keeping a lore blog, but I'm really only invested in certain types of lore so I feel like I'd be a shitty lorekeeper. I'd be interested! I also agree that it depends on who it was and their relationship to him. No one every has purely good or purely bad memories of their home/growing up in it. So, I think it's legit he have mixed feelings on it, for sure. You're not bothering me at all! The heat here has been awful and draining so I just hadn't gotten back around to answering you! If you want, I could give you my discord if you'd like to talk there!

@cookierunslut

[cookierunslut]

Honestly, at this point, we probably should chat on discord so I stop cluttering your blog with my yapping. I always forget it's an option.

[cookierunslut]

Just a wip rn but here, from the Licorice Sea Expedition stuff in Darkest Days.

And close up on them

Ignore the looming figures in the darkness. It's fiiiine~ Everything is fiiiine~

Enjoy instead; Rice Roll Oozeling messing with Dragon Moray Cookie while Licorice Cream Cookie rests.

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

Continued from X

@cookierunslut

In OB, the tribe tried to summon a dragon from the sea's depths and it ended up wiping them out as a result. I've always assumed Licorice may have been a sole survivor of that incident. It makes sense as to why he doesn't want to talk about it in OB and Kingdom. I also wondered if the dragon ever had ties to the Living Abyss, due to it's dragon-like elements. Perhaps it transformed into the Abyss when the summoning went wrong. It'd make Licorice being able to control it during the war arc a nice little bit of character development, but that's also just my personal headcanon. If you're referring to THIS post, then it was me who brought it up. When Dark Cacao holed himself up in the citadel, things were said to have gone bad in his kingdom, like people stealing from each other and taking each other's resources. I can't help but think the Licorice Tribe suffered due to his inaction and general neglect of his kingdom at that time. But perhaps that's me trying to make sense of the mess of a timeline devsis has in place. I feel they ended up being susceptible to witch hunts due to their magic, rumors of their madness and their eventual tragedy via summoning the dragon. I feel the Cacaoians probably thought what happened was just karma getting to them for their transgressions and were more than likely happy they were gone. I can't not think an incident like that wouldn't be extremely painful for Licorice himself and drive him to make a divide between himself and his past. 100% agree with Licorice feeling safer with monsters or those deemed as such. He and Brute have a lot in common, coming from races of people who were ostracized and in Brute's case the cakes weren't even seen as autonomous (which is wild considering how many cookies he's met and spoken to that those like Pastry didn't even know cakes could talk). I feel it's one of the many things that makes them as close as they are, to the point of knowing each other's most vulnerable feelings/secrets (and as someone who ships them knowing canon confirmed this makes me very happy). I think it'd be fascinating for him to meet another member of his tribe! To see what kind of different lives they've led and how their own personal journies made them into who they are. To see what paths the other could have taken and how they dealt with the aftermath of such a cataclysmic event. I explained my theory behind the Abyss, though not knowing if the lore from OB differs from kingdom that's only a theory. Since Kingdom references OB stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if I was right but getting an actual confirmation in canon would be great! I'd love to learn about the tribe more in general. I mean, it's sad the training dummies they made have more lore than they do.

[cookierunslut]

OMG the timeline thing is super frustrating. They really need to establish one bc it is so...

Like, I am very confused about the timeline for the Licorice Sea changing and now knowing the tribe attempted to summon a dragon is just more confusing on when. This is definitely one of those things where the lore gets blurred for me too though.

I vaguely remember seeing something about a Great Sage attempting to purify the sea and the few bits of lore I have seen from OB and Kingdom make the whole situation sound like it's been a problem for at least as long as the Ancients have been around if not longer. But then again, if the Licorice Sea changed because of the Licorice Tribe, that sounds a bit more recent timeline wise and like. You get what I mean? I think a legit timeline for what happened in the lore would do wonders for their games. I would love to use the Great Sage in the actual AU but unfortunately, I have no actual info on that either.

Because if the Tribe summoned the dragon in more recent times, you'd think that'd be brought up more. And raise a LOT more alarm when the oozelings appear since the two seem vaguely related. It would make more sense timeline wise if the survivors rebuilt only to get wiped out again, so is that the issue? (Since you have now given me access to this info, I WILL be making minor lore adjustments for the AU, tho this is pretty close to what I was considering for it anyway.) I'm just speculating but it is still so fun to consider.

I do wonder why they tried to summon a dragon though. I hope we get some lore on that. Because there's so many options for it. Did they already have a connection with a dragon and were trying to bring that back? (The actual plant licorice root comes from is a flowering one so a flower dragon from the Licorice Sea is not off the table BUT there is nothing to support or disprove this and it's entirely just a fun musing of mine.)

Attempting to use the dragon for something is not off the table either of course, whether as a weapon or as protection for themselves. And since I mentioned they could possibly be a reference to Lovecraft's Deep Ones, there's also the chance that they weren't so much summoning as resurrecting the dragon. I haven't read Lovecraft's stories in a while but iirc, the Deep Ones aren't a specific species but a group of various demi humans and other creatures anticipating the resurrection of Cthulhu. So that's a possibility if the tribe is an actual reference and not just a coincidental resemblance. It could also possibly explain how the Living Abyss/oozelings came to be if they botched a dragon's resurrection.

And if you're interested, I can tell you a bit about the context for Licorice interacting with Licorice Cream. If he ever meets and interacts with someone from his tribe in canon, it would definitely depend on the individual. Seeing as he seems to have mixed feelings towards it, I can only assume he wasn't treated horribly. Poverty really is enough to royally mess someone up on its own, it would make more sense to me if he had good and bad memories with some of the people but not necessarily living there.

But that aside for now. Yes. I really wish we had more info. They've only gotten throwaway lines in dialogue or a couple of items. I am super interested in the whole thing. I guess the short version is, "give me a legit timeline so I can better gauge when shit was happening so I can use it for lore and character analysis".

Btw, I hope I'm not distracting or bothering you with this. I tend to get excited over discussions like this where I get to share my thoughts and speculations.

[darkcacaocookieandfriends]

I think you mentioned the Licorice Tribe and some kind of Abyssal madness and it reminded me of a thought I had that they may be a reference to the Deep Ones from Lovecraft's stories!

Since I've been working on my (not) little AU, I've been picking up on just. Small things about the Dark Cacao kingdom and the Living Abyss as well. There was also the mention of a plague coming with the oozelings (was this the madness?). And just. Idk, it really raises some questions about a lot of things including Licorice's relationship/powers over the monsters.

But anyway, enough mini yap! Just know I love your content and especially your theories and headcanons!! ~cookierunslut

Yes! It's stated in canon that those who stuck around the Licorice Sea were said to be put into a constant state of misery and sorrow, and branded as 'The Abyssal Madness'. From what canon stated, it was merely living by the cursed sea so long that it corrupted you as well and put you into a constant state of pain and mourning that gave you the madness. From my personal headcanons, I feel the Cacaoians wrote them off as cursed, crazy people who were nefarious. Instead of utilizing them to help save the kingdom from the sea, they chose to shun them and blame them for the constant turbulence the sea unleased on the Dark Cacao Kingdom. I have complex feelings on the past of the Licorice Tribe and what I believe happened to them from what little we get in canon. Now that I think about it, comparing them to the Deep Ones definitely makes sense, as they were isolated to live in poverty beside of the sea they control. Licorice himself has always has a fascinating relationship with monsters and those deemed as such, whether it's befriending and utilizing Brute as a body guard, his control over the sea, ability to create servants and raise skeletons from their rest or his ultimate mastery of the sea and control of the Living Abyss, he's always seemed to have a kinship with monsters. A part of me thinks he feels deep connection to the dark, miserable, and misunderstood. I've always thought his connection to voodoo like magic was the same. A magic misunderstood and deemed as dark, but in reality something that deeply respects the dead and tries to lend to connection of loved ones, their protection and the afterlife. I made a big post about that particular aspect HERE. You can yap at me any time! I'd love to see what you do with your little AU, as different interpretations of characters I love fascinates me! Thank you so much for your support! I'm glad that you love my content, gosh it's such a compliment that people appreciate me yelling into the sky about my love for the CoD! @cookierunslut

[cookierunslut]

Oooh Thank you for the info! And for the invite to yap. I apologize in advance for this.

I assume it's lore from OB, and I unfortunately haven't been able to catch up on all that lore yet (I'm working on it but I have multiple jobs so free time is... no). I can barely keep up with Kingdom lore rn. Good to know they live by the Sea of Instant Depression.

There's just so much about the Dark Cacao Kingdom (and characters from here) I really love and I am so excited to learn more about it. This definitely makes me wonder if there's any difference between the Licorice Tribe's Abyssal Madness and other members of the kingdom getting it or if their licorice ingredient had made them more or less capable of adapting to it (which I would imagine either way having a negative impact on their reputation). I'm like. Genuinely fascinated by how this could possibly work. Somebody gotta make an MLP infection AU style explanation.

I love that we actually see signs of Dark Cacao suffering from this in Kingdom (the level where the walls are covered in black paintings with little faces). And his obvious depression, not entirely related but I assume it certainly wouldn't help since this Abyssal Madness is a thing.

And I agree with everything you said about Licorice and his affiliations with monsters. I think another part that gets overlooked is that, if his tribe faced a lot of prejudice, he might've learned to feel safer with monsters and outcasts since they could've been treated as such.

I also remember seeing you, or maybe someone else, talking about his hypocritical dislike of traitors. And it makes me wonder if that could also stem from him feeling like Dark Cacao betrayed the Licorice Tribe and by extension him first. THIS is something I actually hope for because I would love it if they used it to turn Dark Cacao's trust in his people against him and rather than being a positive trait, it could showcase a darker side that only made his negligence of the tribes worse.

Sorry, sidetracked there.

Anyway, about Licorice too. I would love to see him meet someone from his tribe again if there are any left. I do this in my AU, but it is complicated and very awkward for everyone (as I think it should be).

I really look forward to getting more info on them all. I basically am still in it for this lore especially. I wanna know what the deal is. Why does Licorice have the ability to control the oozelings? Did he learn a spell for that or can he just do it? What is the deal with the Living Abyss? Is the draconic head just to make it more frightening or is that going to be lore relevant?

Too many questions and not enough answers yet.

[cookierunslut]

HC: Dark Choco was introduced to rock music by Licorice in an attempt to get along with the only other Dark Cacao Kingdom guy in their group (it was very clumsy and awkward and Licorice tried very, VERY hard to be chill and "nonchalant" about it. He was not. It weirded Choco out a bit at first.)

Dark Choco fucking LOVED it. He'd never heard it and it was new and he totally got into Licorice's emo rock bands. One of the few times they sorta got along.

[cookierunslut]

Question abt Licorice Twist Cookie! I see his mask looks like the Mountain Peak Proweler

Is it an actual head or is it just a mask made from wood or smthg?

Also what is the purpose of the mask? Is it for intimidation or an attempt to keep the Prowler away from the tribe?

Yes! It's just a mask made to look like a Mountain Peak Prowler. The main goal is to scare cookies away from their camp or from defending their supplies. Since they were basically forced to flee their village, they're attempting to hide from others. Licorice Twist Cookie prefers to chase cookies away first and resort to violence second when robbing people. (Even his licorice twist club is the soft, gummy type of candy, so it takes a lot of effort to cause serious damage. He's more of the "I want your supplies, not your life" type.)

The mask has the added bonus of hiding the burn scar on his face, so he wears it a lot even in their camp. He thinks it's less frightening to look at. (Nobody judges him for that wound. It's from a sabotaged flare he tried to light to call for help when they were attacked. Quite literally blew up in his face and took his hand with it.) I basically have their story planned out for "Kingdom Tour DC".

[cookierunslut]

Btw here are the colored versions of the Licorice Tribe cookies for Darkest Days. And where they'd fall. (I'll exclude Licorice Cream Cookie bc I've talked a good bit about her already).

Also please do ask questions, it helps me flesh out the details a ton.

Licorice Twist Cookie and Elder Licorice Cookie

I have named the part they'd first appear in "Kingdom Tour: Dark Cacao" for now, after the kind of update I wish we had before the current story in CRK.

Basically, Dark Cacao uses the brief peace to personally check on the citizens of his kingdom and learns of the full damages and disappearances of multiple tribes. Probably with Gingerbrave and Co. bc them kids are nosy lol. Shortly after this, he also has an encounter with bandits who take one of the kids hostage when things go south. Obviously, he tries to rescue them and it leads him to finding the bandit's camp. Only what he finds there are the remaining Licorice Tribe cookies running a small settlement.

And honestly? It's a relief, their village was in bad shape so it's good to see them alive. But oh boy does Elder Licorice have many colorful words for him. However, they vanish again soon after the start of the Dark Dream.

Salmiakk "Cookie"/Abyssal Priestess

Salmiakk "Cookie" comes up a bit in both the "Kingdom Tour DC" and "Licorice Sea Expedition" but mostly mentioned. Her first major appearance is the 2nd arc of Darkest Days, "Waking Nightmares".

While still suffering from the Dreaming Plague, Citizens of the Dark Cacao find some of the missing washed ashore. Among them is the licorice tribe's Abyssal Priestess who was gone for years. She claims to be able to help, and with her efforts they seem to make progress against the Dreaming Plague. But as the Dark Dream fades, strange shapes come from the waters and the missing aren't quite what they used to be.

(Additional note for later: "Licorice Cookie" is among the missing who return from the sea. The Cookies of Darkness are in for one hell of a ride.)

[cookierunslut]

I genuinely keep thinking about Darkest Days AU Pomegranate Cookie.

Like, she will be watching Licorice "crumble" despite attempting to save him. (He's... Okay? Ish? But assuming he crumbled is perfectly reasonable for what happens) That's gonna fuck her up. But I can't decide how she'd react. Would she turn to denial? Would she try to reach him? Would she get angry and become immediately hostile towards the citizens of the Black Citadel? Or would she blame the Ancients that are there for not protecting him? All of the above?

[poppyflavour]

"IT'S STILL PRIDE MONTH IT'S STILL PRIDE MONTH!!!!" I scream as they wait an hour for my words to turn incorrect so they can drag me down to the white room.

[cookierunslut]

I did a lineup of the other prominent Licorice Tribe Cookies in Darkest Days!

Licorice Twist Cookie:

The current leader of whatever tribe members survived their village's collapse. He led the remaining cookies into the mountains and turned completely to banditry to care for the wounded and sick members of their tribe. A bit reckless, but quite strong, he once dreamed of becoming a warrior.

Relationship w/ Licorice Cookie:

(Past) Dislike. He often felt jealous of Licorice for getting attention from his grandmother, Elder Licorice Cookie.

(Current) Indifferent/concerned. He'd welcome Licorice back to the tribe, but that doesn't mean he won't have some choice words for the guy. After all, he disappeared without a word for years to study magic.

Elder Licorice Cookie:

A stern older cookie who aids her grandson in leading the tribe. She manages their camp and tends to the wounded, often lamenting the missing and crumbled. With her guidance, the tribe has remained hidden in their shelter using their common scare tactics to ward off curious cookies. If she ever gets to meet Dark Cacao again, she has some colorful words for him.

Relationship w/ Licorice Cookie:

(Past) A bit maternal. Since he had no family, she often looked out for him when she wasn't busy with aiding the rest of the tribe.

(Current) Concerned. She hasn't seen him in years and worries if he's even still alive.

Licorice Cream Cookie:

Y'all have probably seen her already so I'll be quick. A marine biology student from the Licorice Tribe who thought being able to study and understand the Licorice Oozelings would be able to lead them to better containment and help change the negative opinions other tribes have of her. Unfortunately, she returns to an empty, ruined village.

Relationship w/ Licorice Cookie:

(Past) Dislike. She found him a bit rude and scary as a child. It didn't help that he tried to claim ownership of her bones if she crumbled.

(Current) Mixed. On one hand, she's so happy to know he's alive and well, but he does trick her to access important information.

Salmiakk (Cookie form):

A felled priestess from the Licorice Tribe. Despite her wounds, she's still alive... In a way. Salmiakk Cookie sacrificed her own crumbling self in exchange for the power to defend her people. Though she couldn't save them all, she allowed the rest to escape. Now she acts as a vengeful entity, using her cookie form to draw out those who wronged her and her kin. The arrows in her back are still there from the day she lost her life, though it's only because they were too hard to reach!

Relationship w/ Licorice Cookie:

(Past) Familiar. They weren't super close, but he was often fascinated by the magical aspect of their rituals so she would let him watch her work.

(Current) Aside from her likely feeling protective, she probably won't recognize him beyond knowing he's from her tribe.

[cookierunslut]

Btw, some Licorice Sea Expedition Lore. During the original training with Dragon Moray's team with Vanilla Drop and Licorice Cream Cookie, Licorice is investigating what their "top secret" project is and ofc his dumb ass gets caught. But he was lucky enough to get caught by the only person who wouldn't immediately panic at him being there; Licorice Cream Cookie.

I imagine it probably looked like this:

Jokes aside, this is Licorice's first encounter with a member of his clan in a long time even if they weren't super close. I'd imagine he'd probably be uncomfortable and try to weasel away at first, but when he can't and he realizes he can get info from her as she's part of the team. Well, he is an opportunist.

Mind you, he might end up getting a bit hostile towards her since Licorice Cream probably seems to be living the life he craves. Like, Licorice craves attention and validation. He wants recognition and respect. And he feels he didn't get that.

Enter Licorice Cream Cookie, a girl who comes from the same hometown, and is the same type of cookie. He only remembers her as "that shy, quiet girl always hiding behind her sister". The most notable thing about her to him would probably have been Rice Roll Oozeling. She's so unassuming, and she's still timid and a bit skittish.

And yet, she has a mentor (Vanilla Drop) who cares for her and acknowledges not only success, but her efforts to reach that success. Someone who doesn't look down on her mistakes or failures but tries to teach her to do better. Her superior (Dragon Moray) values her knowledge on the Licorice Sea and actively seeks her input. Not all of the crew likes her, sure, but they can't deny that she's competent since she was specifically chosen for this excursion. She is getting what he always wanted.

And I know Licorice would hate it. I can get magine he'd be jealous. Because how is that fair? They're from the same town. They're both licorice cookies. So why does she have people looking to her for guidance? For answers? Why are her efforts acknowledged? Her opinions respected enough to have actual weight?

It would drive him nuts I think.

But also, Licorice Cream and Licorice weren't close by any means, but she does remember him. And she knows he was curious about the magical aspect of the oozelings and the sea, unlike her who went for a more straightforward and scientific route. She would probably value his input in this situation. Maybe even offer to see if they can get him a place on the team if he had learned more about the monsters in the sea.

Imagine if, for just a brief time, Licorice got what he wanted from the last place he expected. But I think ultimately, Licorice's envy would be his undoing. He'd probably get spiteful and use Licorice Cream to get ahold of more important information about the LSE project and disappear with it.

[cookierunslut]

I'm still thinking I'm going to take the red herring route with all known Licorice Sea lore in the Darkest Days AU. Since so many claim the oozelings came from somewhere else and tainted the Licorice Sea. Hear me out on why I think this is the perfect set up to be a red herring.

We do not have a timeline for the Licorice Sea changing (yet). Just a few references to it happening. Dark Cacao, at some point, even mentions the Oozelings tainting the Licorice Sea. Most likely they probably assume they came from Beast Yeast. But everything about his kingdom makes it sound like they suffered from the Licorice Oozelings long before he got his Soul Jam.

The best way to work this out is to establish the following:

1) When did Licorice Oozelings first appear? So far the only thing that seems even slightly established is that they're probably about as old if not older than the Ancients. Does Shadow Milk know about them? Were they even around at the time of the Beasts? Were they there pre-corruption? Are they older than the beasts? As old as the dragons? (This last one seems unlikely to me unless a dragon IS involved somehow, but for now, we're uncertain)

2) Where are they from? Are they really from Beast Yeast? Or are they from somewhere else and assumed to be from BY? Why the Licorice Sea? Because they share an ingredient? Because it just happened to be closest? They can clearly leave the Licorice Sea, why don't they travel to other waters more often if at all? It's definitely odd that they're very concentrated on that one specific area.

3) What are they exactly? How did they come to be? They're clearly destructive, but it doesn't seem like they've caused that much damage outside the Dark Cacao Kingdom and Licorice Sea, besides when Licorice has summoned them. "Gelatinous licorice monsters" aren't exactly explaining much given their somewhat mysterious existence. Personally, I'm fond of them becoming somewhat aware on their own by trapping life powder/energy but that's entirely me.

Now as for why the limited info makes a good red herring? Because it could change the way they plan to deal with it. The way the entire thing is perceived. The sheer magnitude. It's also why I hope they don't tie the Living Abyss to any existing, major player besides Licorice (like the Beasts somehow).

Like, if everyone assumes they come from BY, they would likely overlook other options (like the sea itself). If anything, it could potentially be an entire arc on its own (which Darkest Days does have enough stuff to be an actual in game arc. Don't look at me pls, I know it's unhinged).

There's plenty of way to take the limited info in canon and use it to lead an audience the entire wrong way. I feel like the mysterious circumstances around the Living Abyss, Licorice Cookie, the Licorice Sea, the Licorice Tribe, and the Dark Cacao kingdom is already interesting enough to deserve its own plotline. And that's partly what Darkest Days is for since I doubt we will get to it any time soon.

Apologies if this don't all make sense. I am rambling again.

[cookierunslut]

They're living rent free in my head rn but like. I love them. Dragon Moray Cookie is a bit jealous of a licorice oozeling bc Licorice Cream Cookie will cuddle Rice Roll all day if allowed to.

Dragon Moray is convinced Rice Roll is mocking him.

[cookierunslut]

How to Cheer Up Licorice Cream Cookie!

A cute lil Darkest Days AU comic for the Licorice Sea Expedition.